Week One

I don't think you will miss it

Sharon, I am also getting rid of your damn bird tweeting clock, which has me in near heart failure every hour, thinking some bloody bird is in the house!!!!!

A Horrible Indictment

Well, here we are at John and Sharon's place- Mae and I drove up today so that tomorrow, when we pick up mom we only have to drive 10 minutes, not two hours. We are very excited and Sharon, you will be pleased to see we have made ourselves at home. Thank you.

We also went to the Burrell Collection and the park next to it, which was great! You can take Mae there when me and mom go out shopping for the day....
I am also slightly worried about the Reids' housekeeping skills- here's the view from the bottom bunk....shocking. (I probably shouldn't have done that, I can never let Sharon stay at my house unsupervised again!!!!)

Itinerary

Mom is coming this Sunday. On Tuesday we are going to a bake sale at the playgroup (you decide what 'we' are baking as I am working Monday!!)
Thursday we are going to a birthday party with Mae in the day and in the evening Geoff and I are off to a wedding reception (haven't told you that yet, mom!)

We will also be visiting:
Caerlaverock Castle
Threave Castle
Drumlanrig Castle
Mabie Farm
Mabie Forest
Dalscone Farm
Cream O' Galloway Farm
Samye Ling Monastery
Sandyhills Beach
Rockcliffe Beach
Dock Park
Deer Park
Castledykes Park
Museum of Costume
Dumfries Museum
Edinburgh
Carlisle
Moffat
Glasgow

These are mostly things that mom didn't see last year, as she was helping us move plus it was freezing when she was here. I wonder when we are going to fit all of this in?

Finally! It's pants!

I know she is three, but Mae is finally toilet trained! She was just not interested in getting out of nappies (diapers)- but last Sunday Liza (childminder) called and said she would be training her son Beck this week so if we want we could send Mae along in pants on Monday. We weren't expecting much, and that night she came home with 5 changes of wet clothes to wash....

The Tuesday she was home with me and TA DA!! Done. The odd accident. That's it.

Except- she has pooed on the toilet but hestitantly. Tonight I was trying to talk her into it, and she said- my poo will go all the way to the sea! With Nemo! So I think there is a slight fear of :

a. A fish biting her on the ass

b. Poor Nemo having to swim around her poop.

We continue to support her.....

Blast off!

I am the Green Lantern- which superhero are you?

What a Bratz!

Finally, we had Mae's birthday party and it was a great success!

Last year was wonderful as well, but very different as we had just moved here and Lauren was the only other child here(although Lauren slept over and maybe that will be a nice tradition? Next year she and Mae will have a tent outside, however, as it was a late late late night!!!)- this year there was 11 kids and about 17 adults. A bit of a squeeze but Mae's childminder leant us this huge ariflow tunnel thingy- thank god it didn't rain!!

Pass the parcel appeared slightly painful, however they did have fun, and Sharon then got the kids to decorate party boxes that I made- the oldest boy, Sonny, helped a few of the younger ones, which was good as I was worried he would be bored!

No major incidents, except Findlay ripping the icing Spiderman off the cake and wanting to eat it all (I promised Mae she could eat the head)- my friend Sharon, his mum, was mortified! Hee hee! It actually passed without many people noticing, I just wanted to put that bit in the blog in case she reads it!

There was one real down point (for me and Geoff, not Mae)- her childminder gave her a Bratz doll!!! OOOH they are horrible, and Liza is really in for it now, with the childminding inspection due (we get to fill out a questionnaire about her) and her son Beck's birthday- the war is on!!!!

So all in all, a great day. We continue to recover. Mae just slept in until 8 am. I still think, though, that the week before with one on one with Abbey Carew will be a week we remember for a long time. Hope you are well, Abbey, and that you get to see all your cousins soon!

Mike-ified

What a week! Too tired to talk, been on the go with Abbey and Mae, who are now firm friends.

Abbey is a darling, a real clown, but also a sensitive and caring little girl. They (and we) had great fun this week, the only low point being when Mae took Abbey out on the slide at Dalscone, splitting both their lips in the process. Just a part of growing up.

I already miss her, and hope that she and Mae will stay in touch.

Here's a few pics of their stay.

Habbey Birthday!

Wow, what a great week Mae is having- has a great new friend, Abbey, who is visiting with my cousin Mike, as well as having basically two birthdays at each end of the week!!

It's been really nice, so trying to show Mike some of the sights- of course that includes the castle at Caerlaverock as well as Mabie Farm, where there are new chicks, lambs, mice, rabbits, the lot. Of course the bouncing apparatus was well used (note Mike is nowhere to be seen) and the 'bucket swing' almost made Abbey sick (Mae is hardcore on swings!).

They are great together though, having loads of giggles, tormenting the cat, seesaw-ing, just being girls. Great.

And Dana, here's Mae's photography, of my cousin Mike.

Woops, that's not it- here we go! (hee hee!)

Two more sleeps.....

God, three years ago I was two days away from having a child lifted out of my sliced open bump.

Nuts.

And so far, we have raised what I thought would turn out to be a tomboy, however our trip to Carlisle on Thursday proved me wrong.

New birthday shoes (never buy a little girl a non- pink based dress- you will want to poke your eyes out looking for shoes that match), a new cowgirl hat, a new rainbow striped belt with a red heart clasp, and a pearl necklace and bracelet with Marie from Aristocats. And she wore all those things when we bought them. She looked slightly insane by the end of the day.

Here's a sneak peek at the main attraction:

And then I got artsy with the camera. Nice to see a little colour in her cheeks; the weather has been fab- but I know I will never be a photgrapher. Don't laugh too hard, Dana, at the skew whiff one at the end!!!

Happiness is......

Is it a new car, with leather heated seats, air conditioning, 6 CD changer, turbo charged, kick ass bass? Maybe, but it ain't green. I drove it to Castle Douglas the other day ( a wee town with great shops, for those of you interested in visiting.), and smiled all the way home. Especially when I was driving by a loch and a guy on a sea-doo was sailing along with me. And playing hip hop, which doesn't suit the car (it reminded me of a bit in Lorenzo's Oil, where the dad is driving along listeing to classical music- I always wanted to be like that when I finally became an adult, but Missy Elliot sounds better, somehow).

Or is it your childs first representation of the family? I think it must be. I don't prompt Mae to draw certain things, but when she pointed out herself, me and Geoff in this picture my heart almost burst. No comments on likenesses please, for you non-parents who don't understand these things.

It's looking forward to more guests, although some have cancelled due to teenage pregancy of their cat. Woke up one morning to fine 5 kittens. They must have got it pregnant- bummer!

It's spring as well, watching the birds chase each other and make nests, new lambs, all the fun places that we went to last year opening again- a bit of variety. It's having a day off- ugh, working over holidays doesn't suit me at all, especially holidays associated with chocolate. On that note, happiness is also losing a stone. Lookin good!

Have a happy day!

updownupdown

what a crazy few days. back from holidays, then Sharon and the grrrls for the day, (John was a bonus in the evening), then Lesley, now Joy and Helen and Maya and Jamie! All ups!

The downs: fridge breaking down, car failing the MOT. Bad downs. Bad bad bad.

S0- new fridge- that's an up. Unfortunately it sounded like a lawnmower hitting a 60 foreign gerbils (see bethanne's blog), so swing low.

Up- have bought a new car.

Here's a quiz then, the prize will be a Milka bar (betcha know what that is, Dana!!):

What car have we bought:

a. Renault grand scenic, light blue, power steering, diesel, 7 seater.

b. Ford Mondeo, air con, heated seats, V6 engine.

c. Range Rover Land Rover, turbo diesel, go-faster stripes.

We're having a grand time with the folks this weekend, and it's great to get the yearly beautiful photo of Mae (courtesy Joy):